With the Student Association of George Brown College’s (SAGBC) Spring 2021 election on this week, we’re checking in on all the campaigns for executive positions on the SAGBC’s board of directors.

The SAGBC funds the Dialog.

In the race for director of education and equity are Aasreen Sood and Sri Krishna Rajan, two candidates who say their goal is fairness and representation for all George Brown students.

Aasreen Sood 

Aasreen Sood is currently in her second year of the Business Administration program. Inspired to make a difference within the college, Sood participated in a variety of activities and clubs to support the student community. She aims to fight for lower academic fees, and advocate for students’ rights. 

“I came to Canada as an international student and my goal was to receive the best education at GBC,” said Sood. “I wanted the same experience and I wanted my peers to receive the same experience.” 

Sood cares about minimizing social isolation and food security, promoting environmental sustainability and entrepreneurship, and having a good educational experience. Education is one of the main goals on her agenda. 

“A lot of students are facing problems during online education and I believe I can help these students solve their problems, learning on campus and offline.” 

As an international student, adjusting to the country was difficult at first. However, after experiencing different opportunities and activities, Sood was inspired to motivate others to improve the education system. 

“I have been acting as an international student ambassador where I mentor a lot of international students, so that is an edge where I can support students of all cultures,” said Sood. 

Other than cultural diversity, Sood says that she will promote the college’s and the SAGBC’s initiatives to students, which include the Student Nutrition Access Program, Peer Connect, and clubs. 

“Students don’t know about all these good initiatives,” said Sood. “I know what the opportunities are though, so I can share it with all the students.” 

Moreover, Sood hopes to work with other departments to provide students with events and workshops in order to learn new skills. 

“Recently, I have collaborated with a recruitment advisor to share how to gain the first job,” said Sood. “I think there is a lot of competition and given the current situation, students are not aware of how to access doors. Just to make them stand out, I can collaborate with all the advisors and make them available to all of the college.” 

Throughout the campaign, Sood hopes to make everyone feel included and part of the GBC community. 

Sri Krishna Rajan 

Sri Krishna Rajan is a current construction management student at GBC. As a ‘volunteer by heart,’ Rajan has participated in multiple volunteer and extracurricular opportunities before joining the SA. 

“I was a volunteer with career developing and many of these other events at Student Life,” said Rajan. “Then, I helped many students in architecture with their coursework.” 

While working as the Interim Director of Communications and Internal at the SA, Rajan learned about the SA’sfunctions, and other concerns and issues related to students. Rajan also learned some methods to help students benefit from their academic journey. 

“Being an [Interim] director of communications and internal has given me a lot of opportunity to connect with the college and other positions,” said Rajan. 

However, Rajan decided to run for the director of education and equity position as he wanted a position that best suited his interests. 

“Throughout my position as the Director of Communications and Internal, I was really passionate and I am connected with the students since I advocate for sustainability and service,” said Rajan.  

While Rajan served on the SA board, the SAGBC signed the SDG Accord, which outlines a commitment to the United Nations’ (UN) Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs). As a candidate for the Director of Education and Equity, Rajan says that he hopes to contribute more to goals combating systemic racism and promoting sustainability. 

“I’m interested in working with the particular system and seeing how gender equality is transparent,” says Rajan. “I’m also working on LGBTQ+ rights, and sustainable development goals, which are components of a better quality education system.” 

In order to eliminate systemic racism, Rajan says that resources should be provided for international students and different workshops must be conducted. Campaigns will be held in order to reach as many students as possible. 

“We need to guide the [international] students and [let them] know what is the difference in terms of the two cultures,” said Rajan. “We need to have different workshops and events related to it. We need to have more campaigning to reach more students as possible. And, we also need to have some positions related for cultural experiences and etiquette, so international students don’t feel left out of this country.” 

Other than advocating for cultural and gender diversity, and promoting environmental practices, Rajan is also working to reduce fees by 25% with the Canadian Federation of Students (CFS). 

“I attended the lobby week with CFS, and we met different MPPs and talked about the fees,” said Rajan. “There are many different fees for international students, so we will try to eliminate those. So, getting votes from students will help me raise their voice and get connected with CFS, and to work with the college and CFS to raise all those issues.”

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The SAGBC’s elections run until April 9 at 5:00 p.m. ET. Students can cast their vote at sagbc.simplyvoting.com.

Click here to read the Dialog‘s coverage of the race for director of communications & internal.

Click here to read the Dialog‘s coverage of the race for director of student experience.